If someone can get the attention of your representative(s) in Parliament and
change the present restrictive policies, many libraries will be the
beneficiaries.
Themistocles
Dear FN and Cecil,
It is really painful to see good books discarded in our local tips and then further discarded in landfills or pulped. Such is the reality in the West. However, in Goa itself, is there nothing that journalist like your goodselves can do to take up the suggestion of Themistocles and get Goa MPs to help remove customs requirements and other bureaucratic barriers on books for colleges/universities, especially, second hand ones?
In absolute contrast, one example comes to mind. A book of mine was published in May 1997 in the USA and 180 copies were quite unexpectedly delivered free to me across the border in Canada. I was given this number gratis by the publisher to initiate sales at an international conference I was attending at the time at Brock University. I was permitted to sell the books at a price of my choosing and indeed did so after duly signing them for individuals of course! When I had some 50 (paperback) copies left, I simply included them in my luggage and travelled back to the UK where there was no duty of any kind to pay. Moreover, personnel of Air Canada looked kindly at my books at Toronto airport and charged me nothing when I was nearly three times the weight limit on my flight. I therefore can't help speculating on why it is that such things are possible in the West and not in India when so many of us would dearly like to help with regard to good quality surplus books from libraries and our own collections?
Incidentally, my publisher subsequently informed me that, several university libraries across the world had ordered copies of the book, on the recommendation of the Conference attendees and that they had more than recovered the cost of the free copies given to me at the conference. It was thus a lucky win win situation all round on that one occassion.
Cornel DaCosta, London, UK.
